


It's Complicated || A Falsettos Cast Story

by loserGREEKwhatever



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn, Falsettos - Lapine/Finn (Broadway Cast) RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29168118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loserGREEKwhatever/pseuds/loserGREEKwhatever
Summary: 12 year old Tylia is constantly abused by her mother, who is an alcohol and drug addict. She is almost killed when her mother is drunk, and is saved by Andrew Rannells and Christian Borle, both in the musical Falsettos. Tylia grows to find that maybe New York City isn't the worst place in the world to be right now.





	1. Everyone Hates Their Parents

I scream as I am pushed to the ground. A loud bang goes off, and seconds later something pierces through my forehead, and I feel something wet and sticky streaming heavily down my cheek. The bang goes off again, and this time, something hits me in my foot. The last thing I hear before I drift into unconsciousness is someone laughing. Someone that sounds a whole lot like my mom.

I awake on the floor of the kitchen, in a big puddle of blood. My blood. I sit up, slowly. The sun was at full power, streaming through every window. It hurts my head and my eyes. Then I remember that the sun doesn't hit our apartment's windows until mid-afternoon. I glance at the clock on the microwave and groan. It is mid-afternoon; already 2 o'clock. I sigh. It's the first day of 7th grade. I had already missed most of school though, so I guess there's no real point of trying to get there. I reach up to brush my hair off of my forehead, and I wince as I touch a wound. Shit. Last night's events return to my memory. I wince again, and swear under my breath. My mom had always sworn, but as much as I tried not to do it, it always ended up happening. Both my head and my foot hurt like hell. My foot is throbbing. I get up, slowly and painfully, and then fall back down, hitting my head on the counter. I decide it is probably better to just crawl to my 'bedroom'. I put it in quotation marks because my mother doesn't think I deserve an entire room to myself, so I live in the coat closet. My bed is on the shelf though, and I am in too much pain to climb up. I sink to the ground, in the corner with a pillow. I grab a book. Maybe I can read a little bit, and distract myself from the pain, before Mom comes harassing me to get her breakfast, because knowing her, she has just woken up, or is just about to, and is badly hungover, or high. With her, either or both is a possibility. As I settle back into my pillow, the door the my room is shoved open by none other than my mother. I look up at her. She has a gun.

"What have I told you about breakfast?" Her voice is low. She is very mad.

"Ummm, I-I should ummm, I-I sh-sh-should always ummmm, a-always h-have it r-r-ready?"

"Yes." Her voice is barely more than a whisper. Then she starts screaming, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR THEN?!?! MAKE ME A FUCKING BREAKFAST!!! FUCK YOU TYLIA!!! YOU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT!!! YOU DON'T DESERVE ALL THAT I GIVE YOU!!!" She doesn't give me anything. "MAKE ME BREAKFAST!!!" She takes the gun and points it at my head. I scramble out of the way just in time for the bullet to not hit my head, but it still hits me in the chest. I scream. I drag myself up, coughing, but fall again, and crawl into the kitchen. Using the counter to stay standing, I start to make her breakfast, but I can't stay up anymore. I fall into the hot buttered pan on the stove, scream, and collapse on the floor, in the puddle of my own blood.


	2. You Gotta Die Sometime, Just Not Yet

This time when I awake, I am not in my mother's apartment. I am in a taxi cab, and there are two men, one of which is cradling my head in his lap. I look up at him.

"She's awake!" He tells the other man. I start crying. I am in so much pain. To me, he says, "Shhh. Hey there. It's okay. My name is Christian. Everything's going to be okay. What's your name?" His voice is oddly soothing, and makes me want to tell him everything.

"T-T-Ty-Tylia" I manage. He nods to the other man. 

"Well, Tylia, everything is going to be okay." I shift from my position to get a better look at Christian's face, but my chest suddenly feels like it's on fire. I scream.

"Woah! Kid, what's wrong?" I barely hear the other man ask me a question. I can't breathe.

"C'mon, c'mon, deep breaths. You got this." The other man tries to help me, but it makes no use. The first man, Christian, starts singing softly, probably to try and calm me down. "Say, I was scared // I kept marching in one place // Marching in time // to a tune I'd forgotten // I loved you // I love you // I meant no disgrace // This here is love // when we're talking face to face." I don't know what love is. I can't tell if the songs words are true. It doesn't work to calm me, either. I don't recognize the song, but he has a really soft, soothing voice. It makes me want to curl up in his arms and just cry. He must've kept going, but I didn't hear it. I was too busy trying, and failing, to breathe. Dark spots started to creep into the edge of my vision. I didn't fight them. My body needed to stay alive.

________________________________________________________________________________

I wake up with my whole body screaming in pain. I can't open my eyes; the fluorescents above my head were too bright. When my eyes finally adjust, I see that I am in what looks like a hospital room. There are tubes sticking out of my arm connected to an IV bag, and a machine next to my bed is beeping in time to my heart. My vision is hazy, and I am exhausted. 

My head hurts, feeling like the time my mother had drugged me. It suddenly dawns on me that I probably had been drugged. If I hadn't, well, it sure felt like it. Most kids my age wouldn't know what being drugged felt like. Sorry, let me rephrase that. Most people who don't do drugs wouldn't know what being drugged feels like, but I had been drugged before, by my mom. It had probably been her this time, although since I was in the hospital, I couldn't be sure. 

"Sleeping Beauty has awoken at last," I look over and see the other man from the taxi sitting in a chair that I hadn't noticed before in the corner of the room. "Hey, I'm Andrew." I blink, confused. 

"Tylia." I say casually. "Good to meet you."

"You too." He replies. I finally get a good look at his face. He young and good looking, and he has brown hair that I can only describe as floofy, in lack of a better word. He has kind brown eyes, but his eyebrows say that he is worried, and relieved. I've always been good at reading people.

Mom said it's from my dad, in one of her rare sober moments, one of my favorite memories of her. We were at the beach, eating ice cream, and she told me about my dad. That was the first and only time she said anything about him. I don't even know what he looked like. Mom told me that he died overseas, but I feel like she's lying, that he just left one day. I know he was a child pornographer and a pedophile, because the only memory I have of him is him raping me. I was maybe three or four years old. I decide to mute my eternal ranting.

"Ow." I groan, sitting up but then collapsing into my pillow once again. My chest hurts more than anything else in my body. How is that possible? I have so many questions. Who is this man? Where is the other dude, Christian? What happened? How did they find me? How long was I unconscious? What happened to Mom?

Then, before I could ask the man, sorry, Andrew, any of those questions, a man I have never seen before walks into the room. Surprising me, I scream.

"THE FUCK!?!?" I say, but it's actually more like yelling, causing me to sit up straight. Bad idea. My whole body spasms, making me scream again, this time in pain.


	3. What More Can I Say?

The man was tall, with very muscular arms. He was wearing a tank top that had some faces in circles with a bunch of arrows and the word 'Falsettos' in the middle. I didn't know what that meant, nor did I recognize it, but Andrew seemed to, and gave the dude a thumbs up and a smile. The man smiled back. The dude just strolled into my room like he owned the place, and sat down on a chair next to my bed. I glared at him. What gave him the right to be in here? He isn't a doctor. Dammit. I thought. I'm just going for it.

"What the hell, dude?" I said to him. It was meant to be menacing, but I didn't account for the fact that my voice probably hadn't been used in a while, and my throat was dry. It came out as a hoarse whisper. "Who are you?"

"Hi Tylia." He said, in a kind voice. I didn't buy it. He was here for a reason.

"Who the hell are you?" I repeated my question.

"My name is Charlie. I'm your social worker." That's strange. I don't have a social worker. Ohhhhhh shit. Someone must have heard my mom. I thought, trying not to give anything I was thinking away with my face.

"Why am I here?" I wanted answers, and it seemed like Charlie knew things I didn't.

"Well... " He stopped and thought about what he was going to say. I interrupted his thought process.

"Cut the crap. Tell me everything you know." I was desperate. I needed answers. He sighed.

"You are in the hospital." Yeah I know dumbass. 

"Really?" I asked him, using my most innocent face. "I couldn't tell with all the medical equipment everywhere." He glared at me, but Andrew started cracking up in the corner. I grinned at him. 

He continued, a little less kind this time. "Your mother was not... uh... wasn't thinking clearly. She... um, well... she shot you." Andrew sat up straight in his chair, and shot me a concerned look. Wait, a gun? My mom doesn't own a gun. I told Charlie that, but then I remembered the ordeal in my room. He seemed to be able to read my face. Hmm. A gun? Well that explains my pain. "She shot you in the head and in the foot." Wait, did they not know about my chest? "They got out the bullet in your forehead, but they couldn't remove the one in your foot without causing serious damage, and so they had to... um... well, they had to remove part of your foot." Shit. I looked down at the blanket on my feet, and saw there was blood seeping through the sheet. A whole lot of blood. I yelped. I was never one for blood. He misunderstood. "Where does it hurt?" I told him there was a lot of blood, and that I didn't like blood. He nodded, understanding. 

"How did they know I was hurt?" I asked him. That was the one thing I didn't understand.

"Well, your neighbor, the police officer." He told me, "Your best friend, I think her name is Sofia," Yup. That's her name. "called him, because she was worried that you didn't come to school, because she knows what your mom sometimes does. He went to check on you, and the door was unlocked." That didn't surprise me. Mom barely ever locks the apartment, even when she is sober. He continued, "He couldn't find your mom, but he heard you scream." I remember that. That was right before I passed out. I hadn't heard anyone in the apartment, though. "He ran to your... uh... sleeping arrangements, and found you on the floor, writhing in pain, with blood seeping from wounds on your head and your foot. And, uh, he found your mother hanging from the rack in your... room. She killed herself." I winced. "He picked you up, and rushed you to the hospital, but he didn't make it. There was a car accident, and he didn't survive. Andrew and Christian found you not breathing in your neighbor's police cruiser, crushed up against the dashboard. If it wasn't for them, you would probably be dead." Damn.

"Thanks, Andrew," I told him. He nodded, smiling grimly. I made a mental note to thank Christian if I ever saw him again.

"We had a show in Bryant Park." Andrew told me, "Christian and I were with the rest of the cast, and he saw the accident. Everyone else had left. We ran over to you, and you were badly hurt. We brought you to the hospital as fast as we could. We thought it was just from the crash, though. We didn't know that you'd been shot. If we had known, we would have gotten an ambulance." Huh. So he was a performer. Maybe Charlie's shirt had something to do with a play?

"Well, you saved my life. Thank you." I told him. He started telling me the story from his point of view.


	4. What Would I Do

Andrew's POV:

"Great job everybody!" Stephanie says to us. Stephanie acts like a mother to all of us, which means loving and congratulating us no matter how much we suck, but also keeping us in line, which we do need reminders to do.

There is a chorus of "Thank you"s and "you too!"s, and Stephanie leaves. I turn to Anthony.

"Hey kid. You did great!" I tell him.

"Thanks Whizzer!" He says. I laugh. Tracie comes over and tell Anthony they have to go. She has kind of been his chaperone and chauffeur to everything show-related. He nods, and waves at me as they walk away. I wave back.

"Nicely done up there." Brandon comes over to me.

"Hey, you too!" I hug him. Brandon is like my brother. Anthony is like a younger brother to me, Stephanie is my mother, Betsey is like an annoying older sister (but in a good way!). In fact, the whole cast is one tight-knit family. (Little Falsettos reference for y'all)

When Brandon leaves, I go up to Betsey. 

"Great job up there." I tell her. She hugs me. Wow, we are hugging a lot today.

"See you tonight!" She calls, and waves goodbye as she walks towards her car. I wave back.

"Yeah! See you!" I call. I start walking towards Christian. He is stuck signing some kid's playbill, from a couple nights ago when the kid saw the show.

"Hey Christian!" I tell him. "Nicely done up there!" I clap him on the back. He caps his pen, and thanks the kid for seeing the show, then he turns to my.

"You too, Andy!" I smile. I love that nickname.

"Hey, do you want to go get a bite to eat somewhere?" I ask him.

"Sure!" He answers me, smiling. Damn it. I know he's straight, but he's so freaking good looking, especially when he smiles. "Where to, my young padawan?" He asks. I smile. He's so nerdy, it's adorable.

"Pizza?" I ask him.

"Pizza it is." He answers. We start walking, but suddenly, he stops. "Andy?" He asks.

"Yeah?" I keep walking, but he grabs my arm and stops me.

"Look." I look in the direction he's pointing, and I gasp. It's an insane car crash between a police car and a huge truck. We look at each other, and then back at crash, and start running towards it. 

"Andy, help me!" He cries. There is a young girl unconscious against the dashboard! I run to the door Christian is trying to pry open, but even with my help, it won't budge. I think for a second, then have a crazy but slightly brilliant idea.

I jump up on the hood, and start kicking the windshield. I look at the girl again. She's bleeding really badly. I kick again, this time harder. The glass starts to crack! I kick again. The windshield shatters! Thank God I wore my Doc Martens! I jump in the car and feel her pulse. She's still alive! There is a man at the wheel. I feel his pulse too. Nothing. Shit! I hate myself. We didn't get there fast enough.

I notice that the girl has a bag on her lap. I pick it up, and then I grab the girl. She's light! Too light for her age. I don't think she eats enough. I sling her over my shoulder, and run back to Christian. He already has a cab waiting for us. I hand the girl to Christian, and duck into the cab, placing the bag on the floor. He hands her back to me, and comes in himself, shuts the door, and tells the driver to take us to NYU's children's hospital as quickly as possible. It's the best one nearest to us. I lay the girl across our laps, and Christian cradles her head in his hands. After maybe five minutes, she opens her eyes.

"She's awake!" Christian whispers to me me. The girl start crying. Christian strokes her hair, softly saying, "Shhh. Hey there. It's okay. My name is Christian. Everything's going to be okay. What's your name?" He speaks in a very quiet, soothing voice. It makes me want to kiss him. What is happening to me? I can usually resist straight boys, no matter how hot they are!

"T-T-Ty-Tylia" The girl finally speaks! Christian nods to me. I write it down on a post-it note and shove it in my pocket.

"Well, Tylia, everything is going to be okay." He tells her. She shifts her position, and suddenly screams.

"Woah! Kid, what's wrong?" I ask her, worried. She starts hyperventilating.

"C'mon, c'mon, deep breaths. You got this." Christian tries to help her, and he starts singing softly. I almost smile when I hear that he chose to sing 'Father to Son' 

"Say, I was scared // I kept marching in one place // Marching in time // to a tune I'd forgotten // I loved you // I love you // I meant no disgrace // This here is love // when we're talking face to face." Christian stops, as the kid's eyelids flutter open and closed. 

"C'mon, kid, you can do this. Deep breath in." I say, trying to soothe her. She is thrashing around in Christian lap. Suddenly, she goes limp. Christian starts to panic. He starts breathing faster, and crying.

I feel her pulse. Good. She's still alive. I nod to let Christian know. He breathes a sigh of relief, and his breathing returns to normal, but the girl's breath is barely there. Even though she's unconscious, I rub her back, and tell her to take deep breaths. I have no idea if she can hear me or not.

________________________________________________________________________________

When we get to NYU, I sling the girl, Tylia, over my shoulder again, and sprint to the ER entrance as fast as I possibly can, leaving Christian to pay the cabbie. I run up to the front desk. The receptionist lady takes one look at the small limp form slung over my shoulder, and yells something down the hall. A few nurses and a doctor come running with a gurney. I put her on the gurney, and they wheel her away. I sink to my knees, and start crying. I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder, and I look up. It's Christian. Everything I look at is blurry from the tears. I stand up and sob into his shoulder. He tells me to look at him.

"Everything's going to be okay." He tells me. It calms me just to hear his voice. He smiles, and my heart melts. He hugs me.

"I-I should pr-probably take tonight's sh-show off." I tell him. He nods, understanding.

"I can tell James for you if you want." He says. "He'll understand." I nod, grateful to have such a good friend to do this for me.

Once I collect myself, I walk up to the front desk. The receptionist lady tells me to fill out some papers so that the doctors can do a better job treating her. I tell the woman that I'm not Tylia's legal guardian; I don't even know her last name. I just met her. She nods, and tells me to fill out what I can and ask Tylia when she wakes up. I nod, and sink into a chair across the room. I'll fill it out later. Only then is it that I remember that I took Tylia's bag from the crash sight. I look around, and realize that I left it in the cab! Shit! That probably had some information about her! I stand up abruptly, and then notice that Christian brought the bag in with him. He's a lifesaver.

I debate whether or not I should look inside of the backpack, and decide against it. There is a phone in the water bottle holder, though, and I turn it on, only because some phones have emergency health records. Hers does! I scroll through it, and find everything I need to know except a couple questions.


	5. Short Insomniacs

Andrew finishes telling me the story. Damn it. I would have died if not for him and Christian. 

"Thank you so much, Andy." I say, trying out the nickname. He grins. I turn my head to look at Charlie. "Okay.... so why are you here?" I ask him.

"Well nobody is going to leave you in the supervision of a woman who almost killed you." That's a fair point. "I'm going to be with you until you find a home." Awww that's sweet.

"What do you mean; find a home?" I ask.

"Well, you're going into foster care." Shit. Well, that ends my childhood. "There is a couple outside right now, waiting to meet you. You've been in a coma for six days. We didn't know when, or if, you were waking up." Damn. Six days. And they didn't know if I would survive. Shit.

"Can I just rest for a little, before you bring in the paparazzi?" I was joking, but his expression grew serious. "Wait," I say, "is there actually paparazzi?" He nods. Crap.

"I agree, though. You should rest. I'll go tell the doctor you're awake." He stands up and leaves me and Andrew. I turn and look at him.

"Where's the other dude?" I ask him, "The one from the cab?"

"Well, he has a show, as do I, but I had my understudy go on. I was worried about you." I blush. He grins sheepishly.

"What show are you in?" I ask him. I am actually curious, which surprises me, seeing as I know no Broadway whatsoever.

"Well, I'm currently in Falsettos." He tells me. "I play Whizzer Brown." That makes sense.

"That's why you smiled at Charlie's shirt." It comes across as more of a statement than a question. He nods, and glances at his watch.

"Speaking of, the show should get out in like five minutes, and Christian said he would skip the stage door tonight and come back to check on you." He tells me. Well, that is very nice of Christian.

"Cool. I can't wait to meet him without bleeding all over his clothing. Great first impression." Andrew laughs. "Wait, what time is it anyways?" I ask him.

"It's a little after ten pm. You woke up late." He tells me. I smile. 

"Hmm. I don't really ever sleep. My friends think that I'm a vampire." I bare my teeth, and make a growling noise, gesturing around me as I say it with my free arm. Bad idea. "Fuck." I kind of groan the word. I am in a shit ton of pain all of a sudden. Andrew stands up. I hadn't noticed before, but damn he is tall.

"What hurts?" He asks in a concerned voice.

"M-my ch-ch-chest." I can barely breathe.

"DOCTOR!" He screams out the doorway. "Shh, shh, it's going to be okay! C'mon, deep breaths."

"I-I c-c-c-can't br-breathe!" I scream in pain. "M-m-my m-mo-mom sh-shot m-m-me in th-the ch-ch-chest t-too." I choke out, "I-I th-th-thou-thought th-they got all th-the b-b-bull-bullets out!" He looks extremely surprised, then worried again. I start screaming. "H-HELP M-ME!!! I-I C-C-CAN'T BR-BREthebtchcrpfckvjgdjfjknds..." I trail off, and fall limp against the bed. I can't waste any energy. I need to stay alive.

"DOCTOR!!!!!!!" He screams it louder. I can't fucking breathe. I am gasping for breath and nothing comes into my lungs. I am vaguely aware of a bunch of doctors coming into the room, all yelling at each other, and then the world goes dark.

________________________________________________________________________________

I am pinned up against the wall. My mother is in my face. Her breath smells of beer and weed. I try to sink back closer to the wall, but I am already as close as I can get. I start to panic.

"You little shit." She hisses at me. "Did you really think you could get away with this?" She waves the permission slip in my face. The one with her fake signature on it. The one allowing me to go on the field trip to that play. I don't like theater, but I like it more than being with Mom, and it is at night, so I decided it would be best if I went.

"I-I... I-I'm s-s-sorry!" I cry. She doesn't answer. Her fist makes contact with my jaw. I cry out.

"Oh, that hurt, did it?" Mom asks, sneering. I nod vigorously. She cackles.

"I'm sorry!" She says, and punches me in the groin. I sink to the floor. She takes a beer bottle, opens it and takes a gulp of the contents, and then smashes the bottle over my head. I feel blood run down my face, and there are shards of glass in my hands, face, and stomach.

"You're going to pay for this!" She screams, shoving me towards the wall. I feel my head hitting wood, and then everything turns black.


	6. Holding to the Ground

I wake up screaming. Andrew is stroking my hair, repeatedly saying 'Shhh. It's okay. I'm here for you. Shhhh. It isn't real." I am the same room as before, but this time, there are more tubes, a ventilator, but it's no longer helping me breathe, and there is bandages on my chest.

"Hey kid." I look up at Andrew. "Nightmare?" He asks me. I don't answer.

"Hi." I say. My voice is hoarse again. "Do you have any water?" I ask him. He nods, and brings a water bottle to my lips. That's nice, considering the fact that I can't use either of my arms right now. I drink thirstily.

"How are you feeling?" He asks me, sitting in the chair Charlie sat in before. I look over to the chair Andrew had sat in earlier, and Christian is there. He catches my eye and smiles. I smile back.

"Better." I tell them. "I mean, I can breathe. That's good." He chuckles, but it's tense. I look over at Christian. "Yo, thanks for saving my life."

"I'm glad I did. I'm just happy you're okay." He says. I suddenly remember something Andrew had told me.

"Hey... how was your show?" I ask him. He smiles.

"It was good. It's a very emotional show, and I did start crying a couple times, but that happens almost every night." I laugh, but then wince. My chest hurts, but not as bad as before.

"So, did they get the bullet out?" I ask Andrew. Christian sits up straight, and shoots an accusatory glance at him. I get the feeling Christian doesn't know about all of my injuries.

"Well, they... uh..." He pauses, thinking about what he is going to say. I don't interrupt him this time. "The bullet punctured your lung, and your lung collapsed. They had to do a lung transplant. It was the only way to save you. They also had to break a few ribs to get there, so that might hurt." Shit. I'm a mess.

"Wait, Andy, why didn't you tell me all of this?" Christian asks him. "What else happened that I don't know about?" Andrew sighs.

"She got shot three times, by her mother, in the lung, the head, and the foot, and they had to remove part of her foot. She split her head open and needed 32 stitches. You already know about the lung transplant, umm" He pauses, thinking. "She also has a 4th degree burn on her face, and a fractured ankle. And a broken elbow."

"In other words," I say, "I'm a trainwreck." Andrew chuckles, but Christian just looks at me and shakes his head sadly. "Do you know how long I'm going to be here?" I ask. Andrew shakes his head.

"I don't, but if you want visitors, I can ask the rest of the cast to come." He tells me.

"Really?" I ask. He nods. "That would be amazing. Thank you!" Then I remember Charlie. "Wait, where did Charlie go?" I ask him.

"He went to take care of the paparazzi." He chuckles. "You're already famous." I force a smile, but I don't really mean it. I sit up, but it doesn't hurt! I smile for real this time.

"There's that smile!" Andrew says. He produces a deck of cards. "Wanna play something?" He asks.

"Sure!" I say. "Do you know how to play blackjack?" I ask, "We can use pencils or something as chips" 

"Ooh, a gambler! I like you already!" Christian says, laughing. He pulls his chair out of the shadows in the corner up to the other side of my bed. Andrew starts dealing for us two.

"Hey don't leave me out of all the fun!" Christian complains. Andrew laughs, and shuffles again to deal Christian in. I finally get a good look at his face. He has blue eyes and dark brown hair, combed over to one side. And his arms. Damn. They are so freaking muscular! How does he stay that fit?!?!

It suddenly occurs to me that I am a girl alone in a room with two grown men, which has never ended well for me. I think Andrew's gay, but I don't want to just guess. I start to flash back to Mom's last boyfriend, when I was nine.

If you want, skip ahead to the next bolded sentence. There is some sexual abuse in here.

I walked in, and Mom was asleep on the couch. That didn't surprise me. What did surprise me, though, was that her boyfriend Dirk was not asleep with her. He was in the kitchen, drinking a beer. When he saw me, he walked over. He was obviously drunk.

"Hey kid." He said. I could barely understand him, from all of the mumbling. "You wanna learn a valuable life lesson?" I was scared, but he would beat me if I said no. I nodded slowly. 

"Promise me you'll never tell anyone I did this, okay?" I nodded again. "Okay, here's what happens when you wear a skirt that short in public." He told me. He took off his belt, and reached to lift up my skirt, then did what no person should ever do, especially to a child. I screamed. Nothing. I screamed again, louder this time, but Mom stayed asleep.

"You little shit!" He screamed at me, and took his belt off of the counter. He whipped me with it. A lot. He lifted up my skirt again, and whipped me there too. I fell to the ground, but he pulled me back up, held me against the wall, and swung the belt at my stomach.

Flashback over.

When I return to reality, I notice I am screaming. 

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay, it's okay. You're safe." Andrew had sat on the bed next to me, and is holding me in his arms, comforting me. I stopped screaming, but I start crying into his shirt. "Shhh. It's okay." He says.

"What happened?" Christian asks soothingly.

"I-I had a-a-a flash- a-a flashback." I sob, "M-m-my mom's o-old boyfriend... h-he did st-stuff t-to me."

"Oh." Andrew and Christian exchange a look. "Did he hurt you?"

"Y-yeah. Some-sometimes." I lift up my t-shirt to show them the scars on my stomach. Christian winces. I pull my shirt back down. "B-but that wasn't th-the flashback I h-had."

"What was it?" Andrew asks, nudging me to tell him. "Did he... do things to you?" I stay silent. I'm not ready to share that yet. Also, Dirk was still alive. He would hunt me down and hurt or kill me. Christian's eyes grow wide, and then looks like he's about to murder someone. Andrew says, "Oh, kid, I'm so sorry! No one should have to go through that!" and hugs me. I haven't had a hug in so long. I start crying again. He is a really good hugger. 

"I was nine." I sob, and hug him back. Then, a doctor walks in.


	7. He's My Doctor, And I Love Him

I wake up screaming. Andrew is stroking my hair, repeatedly saying 'Shhh. It's okay. I'm here for you. Shhhh. It isn't real." I am the same room as before, but this time, there are more tubes, a ventilator, but it's no longer helping me breathe, and there is bandages on my chest.

"Hey kid." I look up at Andrew. "Nightmare?" He asks me. I don't answer.

"Hi." I say. My voice is hoarse again. "Do you have any water?" I ask him. He nods, and brings a water bottle to my lips. That's nice, considering the fact that I can't use either of my arms right now. I drink thirstily.

"How are you feeling?" He asks me, sitting in the chair Charlie sat in before. I look over to the chair Andrew had sat in earlier, and Christian is there. He catches my eye and smiles. I smile back.

"Better." I tell them. "I mean, I can breathe. That's good." He chuckles, but it's tense. I look over at Christian. "Yo, thanks for saving my life."

"I'm glad I did. I'm just happy you're okay." He says. I suddenly remember something Andrew had told me.

"Hey... how was your show?" I ask him. He smiles.

"It was good. It's a very emotional show, and I did start crying a couple times, but that happens almost every night." I laugh, but then wince. My chest hurts, but not as bad as before.

"So, did they get the bullet out?" I ask Andrew. Christian sits up straight, and shoots an accusatory glance at him. I get the feeling Christian doesn't know about all of my injuries.

"Well, they... uh..." He pauses, thinking about what he is going to say. I don't interrupt him this time. "The bullet punctured your lung, and your lung collapsed. They had to do a lung transplant. It was the only way to save you. They also had to break a few ribs to get there, so that might hurt." Shit. I'm a mess.

"Wait, Andy, why didn't you tell me all of this?" Christian asks him. "What else happened that I don't know about?" Andrew sighs.

"She got shot three times, by her mother, in the lung, the head, and the foot, and they had to remove part of her foot. She split her head open and needed 32 stitches. You already know about the lung transplant, umm" He pauses, thinking. "She also has a 4th degree burn on her face, and a fractured ankle. And a broken elbow."

"In other words," I say, "I'm a trainwreck." Andrew chuckles, but Christian just looks at me and shakes his head sadly. "Do you know how long I'm going to be here?" I ask. Andrew shakes his head.

"I don't, but if you want visitors, I can ask the rest of the cast to come." He tells me.

"Really?" I ask. He nods. "That would be amazing. Thank you!" Then I remember Charlie. "Wait, where did Charlie go?" I ask him.

"He went to take care of the paparazzi." He chuckles. "You're already famous." I force a smile, but I don't really mean it. I sit up, but it doesn't hurt! I smile for real this time.

"There's that smile!" Andrew says. He produces a deck of cards. "Wanna play something?" He asks.

"Sure!" I say. "Do you know how to play blackjack?" I ask, "We can use pencils or something as chips" 

"Ooh, a gambler! I like you already!" Christian says, laughing. He pulls his chair out of the shadows in the corner up to the other side of my bed. Andrew starts dealing for us two.

"Hey don't leave me out of all the fun!" Christian complains. Andrew laughs, and shuffles again to deal Christian in. I finally get a good look at his face. He has blue eyes and dark brown hair, combed over to one side. And his arms. Damn. They are so freaking muscular! How does he stay that fit?!?!

It suddenly occurs to me that I am a girl alone in a room with two grown men, which has never ended well for me. I think Andrew's gay, but I don't want to just guess. I start to flash back to Mom's last boyfriend, when I was nine.

If you want, skip ahead to the next bolded sentence. There is some sexual abuse in here.

I walked in, and Mom was asleep on the couch. That didn't surprise me. What did surprise me, though, was that her boyfriend Dirk was not asleep with her. He was in the kitchen, drinking a beer. When he saw me, he walked over. He was obviously drunk.

"Hey kid." He said. I could barely understand him, from all of the mumbling. "You wanna learn a valuable life lesson?" I was scared, but he would beat me if I said no. I nodded slowly. 

"Promise me you'll never tell anyone I did this, okay?" I nodded again. "Okay, here's what happens when you wear a skirt that short in public." He told me. He took off his belt, and reached to lift up my skirt, then did what no person should ever do, especially to a child. I screamed. Nothing. I screamed again, louder this time, but Mom stayed asleep.

"You little shit!" He screamed at me, and took his belt off of the counter. He whipped me with it. A lot. He lifted up my skirt again, and whipped me there too. I fell to the ground, but he pulled me back up, held me against the wall, and swung the belt at my stomach.

Flashback over.

When I return to reality, I notice I am screaming. 

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay, it's okay. You're safe." Andrew had sat on the bed next to me, and is holding me in his arms, comforting me. I stopped screaming, but I start crying into his shirt. "Shhh. It's okay." He says.

"What happened?" Christian asks soothingly.

"I-I had a-a-a flash- a-a flashback." I sob, "M-m-my mom's o-old boyfriend... h-he did st-stuff t-to me."

"Oh." Andrew and Christian exchange a look. "Did he hurt you?"

"Y-yeah. Some-sometimes." I lift up my t-shirt to show them the scars on my stomach. Christian winces. I pull my shirt back down. "B-but that wasn't th-the flashback I h-had."

"What was it?" Andrew asks, nudging me to tell him. "Did he... do things to you?" I stay silent. I'm not ready to share that yet. Also, Dirk was still alive. He would hunt me down and hurt or kill me. Christian's eyes grow wide. Andrew says, "Oh, kid, I'm so sorry! No one should have to go through that!" and hugs me. I haven't had a hug in so long. I start crying again. He is a really good hugger. 

"I was nine." I sob, and hug him back. Then, a doctor walks in.


	8. Falsettoland

When Carlos leaves, I decide to see what Falsettos is. I look it up on Google, and a ton of pictures of Andrew and Christian pop up. I smile. I go to YouTube to maybe watch a song or two from it, since I have a couple of hours to kill. I search 'Falsettos', and a bootleg pops up! Andrew said the show starts at 8:00, so I decide to watch it in time with when the show actually starts. It's 7:53, so I grab a pudding cup from the dinner tray Carlos brought me, and I settle into my pillow. At 8:00 on the dot, I press play. The opening number starts playing, and I see Andrew and Christian in ridiculous costumes, with two other men, bickering about something. I hear something about Bryna being in China with a torn meniscus, but I have no idea what the fuck that means. They start singing.

'Four Jews in a room bitching.' I start cracking up, but then my chest hurts, so I settle down.

'Four Jews in a room plot a crime.

I'm bitching, he's bitching,

They're bitching, we're bitching,

Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch

Funny, funny, funny, funny

Bitch, bitch, bitch bitch bitch bitch

All the time.

OOOOOOOO!!!' I can't help it. I start laughing again.

'What do they do for love?

OOOOOOO!!!

What do they do for love?

Four Jews in a room

Bitching

Bitching

Bitching

Bitching

Four Jews in a room stoop (they stoop) to praAaAy!

I'm Jewish!

I'm Jewish!

I'm Jewish!

Half Jewish?' I laugh again as Andrew says that line.

'Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch,

Funny, funny, funny, funny,

Bitch, bitch, bitch bitch bitch bitch

Night and day.' A really pretty woman walked onstage and started singing.

'Slavery, slavery.' The men continued, but I couldn't get her voice out of my head.

'We crossed the desert,

Running for our lives.

Fleeing from the Pharaoh!

Who was up to no good.

Now we're at the red sea, 

Pharaoh is behind us,

Wanting us extincted.

What we need is a miracle!!!' 

That kid looks familiar. Where have I seen him before? I searched my brain during the rest of the song, and I didn't get it. The rest of Act I flew by pretty fast. I laughed when Andrew almost broke character when he said 'Marvin at the psychiatrist. A three part mini-opera.' and I laughed even harder when Jason started singing 'My father's a homo, my mother's not thrilled at all.' I cried a little during 'This Had Better Come to a Stop', because I felt so bad for Trina, and for Andrew's character, Whizzer. Christian was being kind of a dick. I loved 'I'm Breaking Down' so freaking much, that I actually clapped when it ended. I laughed again during 'March of the Falsettos'. They looked so stupid in those outfits! 'The Chess Game' was so freaking clever!!! I loved the relationship between Christian and Andrew's characters. It was so different than in here. I cried during 'The Games I Play', and again during 'I Never Wanted to Love You' and didn't stop until the end of 'Father to Son', which hit a nerve. I've always wanted a real father, even one as shitty as Marvin. I also recognized it as the song Christian was singing to me in the cab. I understood why he had said it was an emotional show, but I hadn't seen him cry yet like he said he did every night.

When Act I ended, I realized I had been so caught up in the show that I hadn't eaten my pudding, and I decided to give myself a 15 minute intermission to eat dinner, just like I would have gotten at the theater.

When I had finished my dinner of plain hospital food and a pudding cup, I pressed play for Act II. As soon as Mendel came on, I smiled. I didn't really understand his character. I mean, I got why he was needed for the story to progress, but I didn't understand what was going on in his mind. He started singing.

'Homosexuals.' I cracked up. He pointed to the audience, and I laughed even harder. I imagined Carlos sitting in the audience with Trey, making out, and then both of them turning and being like 'who, me?' and I couldn't stop laughing. Then my chest spasmed, and I winced, and stopped laughing. During that same number, two lesbians came onstage. Whaaaa? Did I just miss them in the first act? I was confused. One of them looked exactly like that woman in the Rent movie. I looked closer. It was! 

I laughed throughout that wholle song, especially when Andrew was dancing and knocked over the little punching-bag-Nancy Reagan. Everyone was super talented, although I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as this was Broadway. I laughed through the whole first half, up until the end of 'Everyone Hates His Parents'. Then when 'Something Bad is Happening/More Racquetball' happened, I cried. When Andrew/Whizzer collapsed, I almost screamed, but I remember that I am in a hospital, and that is taking doctors away from needy patients when I don't need their help. During 'Unlikely Lovers', I started sobbing. I broke. It was the most beautiful song I had ever heard! When Jason started 'Another Miracle of Judaism', I my life was blessed by his innocence, and how cute he portrayed his character. During the Bar Mitzvah, I was almost in tears, and when Whizzer... Well, I can't even talk about it without breaking apart. When Jason put the chess piece on his tomb, it made me want to run into my phone and hug them all. I was broken. When the show ended, I shut my phone. I couldn't bear it anymore. Whizzer made me think too much of Tessa.


	9. You Are Gonna Kill Your Mother

Tessa was my twin sister. 

Is my twin sister. 

My mother wanted a son. She got pregnant with my father, but she soon realized it was a girl. Two girls. She wasn't drinking at the time, and she decided to keep us, to try and provide and give us good lives, even though she wasn't doing so well financially. Dad had left before we were born. Mom said he went to war, but I think it's because he learned Mom was having twin girls, and he wanted a son as much, if not more, than she did. When we were six, Tessa got sick. Very sick. She needed very expensive medications, and my mother couldn't afford it. Then, she lost her job. She couldn't afford to keep both of us anymore. I remember sitting at my sister's sickbed, comforting her, saying that Mom would never do that to us. I was wrong. She sold Tessa. She sold my sister to a man in exchange for drugs and alcohol. That's when she started drinking, and abusing me.

I don't know where Tessa is now. I don't even know if she's still alive. I told her I would always protect her. I promised. I didn't keep that promise. I thought again of Whizzer, dying in his hospital bed. At least he had family, and loved ones to get him through it. Tessa has no one. She might not even have been cared for!

I think back to Falsettos. They ended up fixing their problems. I hope I can fix Tessa's. I miss her.

I am still crying from the musical when Andrew and Christian walk in, a bunch of people following them. I quickly dry my eyes.

"Hey Tylia!" Andrew says. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He sits down on the edge of the bed.

"I found a bootleg of Falsettos on YouTube and decided to watch it, and I broke me." I admit. He laughs. 

"Was it good?" He asks, hopefully.

"I wouldn't be on the verge of tears right now if it wasn't." I reply, grinning. "You guys are amazing!"

"Thank you. Thank you very much." Says Christian, like an old timey TV host. I remember back when Mom let me spend time with her. When Tessa was still here. I shove those thought out of my head, and laugh at Christian's childish humor.

"Hey! I'm Anthony!" It's that kid. The one who played Jason. He's kinda cute. "I'm 12 years old."

"Cool! We're the same age!" I say, "I'm Tylia! You're insanely talented!" He blushes. I changed my mind. He's very cute.

"Thanks. I kind of base Jason off of me. I'm a friendless, nerdy kid who is naïve but doesn't think he is, and breaks out into song 24/7" I laugh.

"Break it up, you two lovebirds!" I turn red, and so does Anthony. The Mendel dude sits down in the chair next to my bed, laughing hysterically.

"Seriously, Brandon?" Anthony yells at him. He continues to laugh. When he finally catches his breath, he says to me,

"Hi! I'm Brandon! It's great to meet you!" I smile.

"You too! I like your jacket!" I reply. He's wearing a jean jacket, but it is covered with iron-on patches with different logos on them. I recognize Falsettos from Charlie's shirt, and Shrek, because I've seen the movie. I'm guessing all of them are musicals.

"Thanks!" He says, grinning. The woman that I think is in Rent comes over.

"Hi! I'm Tracie!" She smiles at me. 

"Hi! I'm Tylia!" I say. "Hey, were you in that Rent movie?" She smiles. Oh, no. I'm embarrassed. She wasn't. "Sorry." I say quickly.

"No, don't be sorry! I was in it. Have you seen it?" She asks.

"Yeah. I don't really like musicals, though, until Falsettos." I say. "I watched it with a friend." 

"Cool!" She exclaims. Stephanie and Betsey also come and introduce themselves, and we chat as a group for a bit. 

Then, Carlos walks in, still in his formal clothes under his lab coat. As soon as he sees the entire cast of the musical he just saw, he jumps a little, and squeals like a kid. The cast and I laugh.

"Oh! You all are here!" He says, surprised. "I just saw the show. It was amazing!" The cast responds with a chorus of thank-you's.

"I was wondering... Would you guys be willing to sign a Playbill? My partner Trey collects signed ones, and tomorrow is our 10 year wedding anniversary, but I haven't gotten him anything yet, and you guys are standing right here, and wow." He still doesn't seem to believe the cast of Falsettos is standing right here in front of him. Some of them laugh at his starstruck face. I join them. We all start laughing harder, and my chest hurts, so I stop, but the rest of them keep laughing.

"OF COURSE!" Anthony has to yell to be heard over all of the laughter. He takes out a Sharpie and signs Carlos's Playbill. One by one, the other actors collect themselves and write their signatures with Anthony's pen. I smile. Once they're done, Carlos tucks the booklet into his pocket and turns to me.

"I just came by to check on you." He tells me. "I didn't expect the entire cast of a Broadway musical to be here. How're you feeling?" The cast is now silent. This is really fucking awkward.

"I mean, it's better now without a bullet in it and a collapsed lung." I am trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn't work. "It still hurts a little, but not all the time." He nods. "It hurts to laugh, which I learned the hard way through Falsettos." Brandon smiles. I smile back. I think that after Anthony, Andrew, and Christian, he's my favorite in the cast. That's weird. I usually feel uncomfortable around men, but it probably helps that I think Christian is the only straight dude, and he saved my life. I continue telling Carlos how I feel. "Crying, on the other hand, does not hit. I also learned that from Falsettos. I was either crying or laughing the entire show, even when it hurt my chest. I couldn't stop!" I smile. "I still don't like how much blood there is there." I say, pointing to the foot of my bed. He nods. I see Anthony look where I'm pointing and cringe. I feel bad that he is looking when he does t have to be here.

"If you don't like blood either, you can leave if you want." I tell him. He smiles.

"It's fine. I'm happy I came. I think we're gonna become good friends. I'm glad I met you." He hugs me. My chest hurts because of the pressure he's putting in it, but I barely notice. I am too busy internally screaming that he's making physical contact with me!

"I'm glad I met you too." I reply, and I hug him back.


	10. Kid, You're Looking Very Good Today

When I wake up the next morning, my chest doesn't immediately spasm! That's probably because they put me on pain meds, but I'll take what I can get. 

Last night was amazing. The cast is all super nice, and I think Falsettos changed me. I'm going to ask Christian and Andrew if they've been in any other shows.

I made Andrew go home and get some sleep last night after the cast left, but that didn't stop him from being here before I woke up. I start working up my courage. I had decided to tell him everything today. He doesn't know I'm awake yet, so I decide to scare him. He is asleep, and so when I yell "BOO!" he jumps in his seat, and yells, "I don't want a pony, Mommy. I want a unicorn!" He then realizes what happened, and looks at me. I start laughing really hard.

"Rude. He crosses his arms over his chest and slouches in his chair. It is only the that I notice Christian standing in the doorway, struggling to breathe because of how hard he is laughing. I see him put his phone away.

"Please tell me you got that on video." I whisper to him when he walks over. He glances at Andrew to make sure he isn't looking before he nods. I giggle, and say, "Send it to me." Then I realize I don't have his number. "Do you want me to put my number in your phone?" I ask him. 

"Sure." He replies. We swap phones, and I create a contact for me while he creates a contact for himself. We switch back, and I see what he names himself; 🎭🖊📚Holy Musicals Batman. I crack up, and am surprised to find that it doesn't hurt! I wait until he reads what I named myself. 

He starts laughing. I name myself; 🏳️🌈👩👦🥱💍 Welcome to Tylialand. 

"You really loved Falsettos, didn't you?" Christian asks, grinning. I pretend to think.

"Hmmm, I don't know. I mean, crying and laughing for a good three hours kind of does that sometimes." I say sarcastically. He grins. Andrew reads my contact name over Cristian's shoulder. 

"Welcome to Tylialaaaaand!" He sings it with his best impression of Brandon. It is terrible. Christian seems to think so too, and we both crack up.

________________________________________________________________________________

Time skip because I'm lazy.  
________________________________________________________________________________

Right around 11:00, Carlos walks in. He is followed by two other people. It's Sofia and Trey!!! Sofia runs up and hugs me.

"OMIGOD I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!" She screams. I throw my arms around her.

"I MISSED YOU SO FREAKING MUCH!" I squeal. Then I remember that Sofia's dads don't like swearing. "Oops, sorry." I tell them. Trey just smiles and nods to me, as if to say, 'Thank you, now don't do it again.'

"How are you?" He asks. I smile.

"I could be better." He chuckles. "But then again, I could always be worse." He nods, and kisses my forehead, right on top of the bandage. I giggle, and embrace him in a tight hug.

"I missed you!" I look at Sofia. "Oh, c'mon. Group hug!!!" I say. Everyone, even Andrew and Christian pile on the bed and hug each other.

"Oh! Wait! Trey and Carlos, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!" I may have yelled that last part. "I got you each a pudding cup! Chocolate-vanilla swirl for Carlos, and butterscotch for Trey!" They smile, and hug me. Then, they proceed to make out. Sofia gags and averts her eyes.

"Guys! Ew! Your daughter is right here." She wags her finger at them. "C'mon lovebirds. Wait until we're home and I'm asleep! Ew!" She sounds like one of those embarrassing mothers portrayed on TV. I laugh.

"Waitasecondyou'reAndrewRannellsandyou'reChristianBorleomigoodnessyouareactuallyherehowtheheckareyouhereomigodIloveyoubothareamazing!" Trey seems to have just noticed that there have been two Broadway stars standing in my room the whole time, and starts gushing. "Omigoodness omigoodness omigoodness!!"

"Happy anniversary!" Christian deadpans, and Andrew stands behind him fighting back tears from trying not to laugh. I give him a totally indiscreet thumbs up of congratulations for not laughing, and he breaks. He falls into his chair laughing so hard he can barely breathe. There are tears streaming down his cheeks, and he is clutching his stomach because it is cramping from the laughter. It is hilarious! I take a picture, and make a mental note to make that is contact photo if he ever gives me his number.

He is still laughing when Trey and Sofia have to leave. Sof comes and hugs me, and promises to visit soon. I smile. Best morning ever.


	11. Linguini

After a lunch of pasta, (which I screamed about because it was linguini!), Anthony decided to come by and visit me. I internally screamed when I heard he was coming back, and I made Carlos change my sheets so he didn't have to look at the blood. Christian left when Sofia and Trey did so that he could do something. He wouldn't tell me what he was doing, though.

Andrew teases me about my crush on Anthony all morning, so apparently it is more obvious then I had hoped. When Anthony walks in, Andrew is in the middle of saying,

"Well, if you won't admit it, at least invite me to your wedding!" and I turn a dark shade of crimson. "Well, speaking of the devil!" Andrew says, and I blush even more. He laughs.

"Hi Anthony!" I say, grinning. He comes over and hugs me.

"Long time no see!" He says. We talk for a while, about Falsettos, and about the rest of the cast, but also about ourselves, since we don't really know a lot about each other, and then Carlos comes back in.

"Hi Carlos!" I tell him. He smiles. "Quick question: Do you know when I'll be able to get out of bed?" I ask him the question that has been bothering me all morning.

"Actually, that is literally what I was coming to talk to you about!" He says with a laugh. "I checked with your surgeons, and they told me that you should be able to get up today, as long as you take it easy." My face slowly breaks into a grin, and I sit up and hug him.

"That's amazing!!!" Anthony says, also grinning. Andrew smirks behind Anthony's back, and I glare at him. "Did I say something wrong?" Anthony asks, confused. 

"Oh! No, no! Andrew was being a di-" I cut off abruptly. "Annoying. He was being annoying." I correct myself.

"Subtle." Andrew mouths with a thumbs-up. I mentally make a note to get back at him, but I don't externally do anything. Yet.

"So," Carlos continues, "Would you like to get out a little? You'd have to use a wheelchair, but-"

"YES! YES! YES! ONE HUNDRED PERCENT YES!" I interrupt him. "Could I go now? Pleeeeeease? And Andrew and Anthony can come with me! I CAN GET OUT OF THIS ROOM!" I am crying of joy. I don't remember what is outside this room and Mom's house; I haven't been there in so fucking long.

"Yeah, sure." Carlos replies. "I'll get you a chair." He leaves, and returns a couple minutes later pushing a wheelchair. He starts to help me out of bed.

"I'll help you." Andrew says, walking over to my other side. Together, they lift me from the bed into the chair. Then, Carlos calls in a female nurse to help me get dressed, he goes to help another patient, and the others leave the room. I have been wearing pajamas since I got here, and they button up in the front, so that is sort of easy to take off, except with the cast on my arm, and the IV in the other, making it a little harder. I put on a tank-top and a baggy sweatshirt. My pants have a drawstring, so that makes it easier, but I also have an explosion of bandages on my foot. We struggle together trying to fit the pant leg over the bandages, but it won't fit, so we end up just leaving the pants on, which is fine, because they're flannel, which I sometimes wear to school. She puts a sock and a sneaker on my good foot, and I have to admit, if not for my hair which looks like a rat's nest, (one of the worse things about curly hair), hard with dried blood. She tries to tame it, but it doesn't work, so she ends up stuffing it all under a beanie, which is fine with me, because I don't like the bandage. When I'm dressed, she wheels me out, dragging the IV stand behind me. When we get to the hallway, I thank her, and Andrew takes over pushing me.

We chat as we go all over the hospital, and I meet another girl my age, Isabel, who is in here because she got attacked by a shark in Long Island Sound. (I still don't understand how that's possible, even after she told me. The water is just too cold!) Isabel, Anthony, and I sit in the lobby for a while, just chatting, while Andrew takes a call. She isn't from Manhattan, but the medical professionals that had the equipment to save her were here. Isabel has been in the hospital for two weeks now, because she has to re-learn how to do a lot of stuff. She lost her dominant arm in the attack.

Isabel loves musicals, and she and Anthony hit it off immediately. I only know Falsettos and Rent, but neither of them I know well.

"Ummm, I need to use the restroom." I say. They pay no attention. I'm not even sure if they heard me. I excuse myself, trying and failing to wheel myself away with one arm and holding an IV stand. I almost fall out of my chair.

"Oh!" Anthony finally notices me, and runs over. "What are you doing?" I sigh.

"I'm trying to go to the bathroom, but it obviously isn't going that well." I tell him. He laughs at my grumpiness.

"Well, I would help you, but, you know..." He trails off and blushes slightly.

"Ladies room?" I finish for him. He nods. I giggle. "Isabel!" I call over to where she is sitting, watching us. "Could you maybe... would you help me get to the restroom?" I am embarrassed, but she just smiles.

"Of course!" She says. "I needed some help when I first checked in too." I nod, grateful. I hadn't noticed before, but Isabel is kind of cute too. Maybe cuter than Anthony. I look at her again. She's definitely cuter than Anthony. Holy shit. What has become of me? I turn red, but thankfully she doesn't notice. She stands up and walks over. I hold my IV stand in my good arm, the one with the IV in it. I drag it along as she wheels me to the bathroom.

________________________________________________________________________________

Time skip because I'm not describing what happens in the bathroom.

________________________________________________________________________________

When Anthony leaves, I stay chatting with Isabel for a little while longer.

"So, what do you like to do in your free time?" She asks.

"Well, I like to write. I also drew, before this happened." I wave my cast around, and she looks down. Then I remember that she no longer has her hand. Shit. "Oh my God I'm so sorry I forgot, and..." She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"It's fine. I-" She pauses. "I just miss it." I nod.

"I felt the same way when I learned I had lost part of my foot." I say. 

"Why don't you continue, and we can pretend that this never happened?" She says. I nod, grateful to be changing the subject.

"Well, I love music, and I can play piano, but I didn't do it that often because I didn't have a piano, and my mom thought music made me happy so she didn't let me do it. I probably would have gotten into musical theater, too, if not for..." My voice breaks. I look down at my lap, hoping she doesn't see my eyes starting to tear up. I think she notices. She places her hand on my shoulder, and looks me in the eye.

"You didn't deserve to be treated that way." She tells me. "But now you have friends, and friends look out for each other." I start crying, but it isn't because of my mom.

"I have never really... had friends before." I say quietly.

"Oh, Tylia!" She cries, hugging me as non-awkwardly as she can with one arm. "Well, now you do, and I won't let you be sad. C'mon, let's go see if any of the nurses are willing to give us pudding." I laugh. It's nice to have a friend, even if I wish we were more than that.


	12. Shut Your Mouth, Go to Sleep

I hadn't noticed how late it's gotten. It is already almost eight! Carlos comes and finds me, and tells me that I should get some rest.

"You start physical therapy tomorrow, so you should get a good night's sleep." He told me.

"Oh okay!" I reply. I turn back to Isabel. "It was great to meet you! I hope we can hang out again!"

"Same!" She says, smiling. "Good luck tomorrow!" I look at her, confused. She explains. "Well, you haven't walked in a long time, and also, you need to relearn how to do it differently because of your injury, so it's going to be difficult."

"Oh. I didn't really think about that." I say. Then I remember that she wished me luck. "Thanks!" She nods, and Carlos wheels me back to the room.

________________________________________________________________________________

"So..." I look up at Carlos. "You have a crush on her?" I turn red. I hesitate before responding.

"What?!?! NO!" I exclaim, a little too excitedly. He looks at me pointedly. "Was it really that obvious?" I ask, embarrassed. He chuckles, nodding. I groan. "Please don't tell her!" I beg him.

"Fine." He says, laughing. "But I'm telling Sofia that her best friend has a crush." I groan again.

"Fine, but when my phone doesn't stop ringing tomorrow, I'm going to blame you!" I tell him.

"Yeah, yeah. It's all my fault." He replies, smirking. I smile. "So, you ready for PT tomorrow?"

"Nope!" I say, smiling. He laughs.

"You'll be fine." He says. "You're getting a really good therapist. She'll take care of you." I smile, nodding.

"It isn't the therapy that I'm worried about." I tell him, and my smile fades. "I'm worried that I won't be able to walk again." I start crying. He nods, understanding, and hugs me.

"Oh, Tylia. It's okay." He strokes my hair, comforting me. "You'll be able to walk again." I nod, and sob into his shoulder.

"I-I know, b-but what if I-I can't?" I ask through tears. "Wh-what then?"

"I don't know." He says. "But I do know that you need to get some rest."

"Okay." I say, collecting myself. "G'night."

"G'night, Tylia." He says, and dims the lights as he leaves the room. I fall asleep almost immediately. Today was exhausting.


	13. I'm Breaking Down

When I wake up in the morning, I groan. I wish I were still asleep. I'm grateful that the hospital dims the lights in my room at 8 PM so that I can sleep in the dark, but I am kind of annoyed that they have to turn it back at 6:30 AM. A girl needs more than 6 hours of sleep! I know that the lights are off for ten and a half hours, but I'm an insomniac, and I can never fall asleep. I usually stay awake until about one in the morning, and then just pass out from exhaustion, even though my mind is wide awake.

I used to have no trouble sleeping at all, because Mom would beat me in the evenings to the point that I was unconscious, and then drag me into my bed. I would be out for the entire night.

I mean, I'm glad that I'm no longer abused by a woman who was the only girl on the football and wrestling teams in middle school through college, but I don't see why I can't sleep anymore. I guess I could always ask the doctors to put a sedative or something in my IV tube, but I don't want to come across as needy.

________________________________________________________________________________

I sit up, and notice that there is almost no more pain in my chest! Yay! It's sad that I am now happy to not be in pain, that this is my life now. Back with my mother, I was in pain almost 24/7.

I'm glad that I woke up, because as soon as my eyes adjust to the bright lights, Carlos walks in.

"Rise and shine!" He says with a smile. I groan.

"It's so early!" I grumble. He laughs. "Hey!" I defend myself. "That's not nice!" He just starts laughing even harder.

"Anyways, your PT starts in fifteen minutes, so you might want to get dressed. I'll get a nurse to help you." I nod. "Also, I got you something." He hands me a bag. 

I take out a cloth item that looks like clothing and unfold it. It's a Falsettos t-shirt! It has the logo on the front and the words 'love is blind' on the back. It is amazing!

"Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I love it!" I hug Carlos. He smiles, and pulls me closer to him, kissing me on the top of my head. When we break apart, I see the price tag. "$30? For a t-shirt? Dang it, Carlos. This is too expensive. I can't except this." His smile fades.

"Please take it." He tells me. "After what you've been through, you deserve it. I love you kiddo, and I want you to have it. Maybe... maybe think of it as a 'get well soon' gift? I got it when Trey and I saw Falsettos. I had a feeling that you needed clothes, and it was convenient. I'm glad you like the show though! Now it means even more to you." He tells me. I nod reluctantly, knowing that there is no way I'm winning this. "Besides," he says,"It's your size, and it's non-refundable, so if you give it back, we will just be wasting it." He still won, and I didn't even fight back! I laugh. I hug him again, and grin.

________________________________________________________________________________

I wear basically the same thing as yesterday, but today I wear Carlos's shirt. I can't wait to show it to Isabel!

My hair is kind of better today, as we are able to take off the bandage on my head and replace it with a couple band-aids, because the stitches are binding my skin together faster than we thought. The nurse can tame it, and gives me two braids.

I check myself in the reflection on my phone screen, and I look presentable! I still wear the beanie, though. I don't want my hair getting all weird and then not being able to cover it.

________________________________________________________________________________

Time skip to after PT because I'm lazy.

________________________________________________________________________________

Physical therapy was hell. 

I really don't think there is any other way to describe it. It was in a stuffy room without windows, and there were way too many people for my comfort. I actually ended up having a panic attack, but Isabel was also there, so I didn't want to seem crazy, and I ended up going in a closet for air, which was even more stuffy and didn't help so much as it made my panic attack worse.

The therapist did get me out of the wheelchair, but as soon as she stopped supporting my weight and helping me stand, I collapsed. We did that many more times, and the last couple times I could stand on my own for a couple seconds to a minute at a time.

I am exhausted, but I have PT again tomorrow, so I am not going to go out and talk to Isabel today.

At around 11, Andrew comes and visits me again, and brings me a box of cookies from this place called Schmackary's that apparently a lot of Broadway people love. 

I grab a funfetti one and a chocolate chip one, and they are delicious. I don't really remember what cookies tasted like, because Mom didn't let me have any sweets. She said that they were just an extra unnecessary expense that I didn't deserve. Andrew also steals enough cookies from the ones he gave me for the seven cast members and their understudies for after the Wednesday matinée this afternoon, as a special treat, but it still leaves me with plenty of cookies for myself, about 8. He got me this huge box! There are so many!

He sets down the box on the table next to my bed, and sits in a chair that he pulls up to be next to mine. I don't want to be in bed anymore, since I've been in it for a hella long time, so instead I stay in my wheelchair, which is actually quite comfortable.

He finally notices my shirt. He breaks into a grin, and says,

"Nice shirt." I laugh.

"Thanks!" I say.

"Hey, that dude with the pink behind him is very good looking, don't you think?" He says, teasing. 

________________________________________________________________________________

(For those of you who don't know the logo, Andrew is the one with the pink behind him)

________________________________________________________________________________

"Eh, I've seen better." I deadpan. He glares playfully at me, then breaks out laughing.

"Well, I have to get over to the Walter Kerr." He says, looking at his watch. "We have a matinée at 2, but I want to get a couple of things done, and my dressing room is the quietest place I can go, because my boyfriend is at home babysitting a family friend's kid." He gets up. "Sorry, I wish I could stay longer." He tells me.

"It's fine." I say. "I'd love to meet your boyfriend some time." He smiles.

"I might be able to bring him next time." He tells me.

"Cool!" I say. "Have a good show!" I search my brain for that expression for theater... something about legs? Oh yeah! "Break a leg!" I say as he walks out.

"Thanks!" He calls over his shoulder.


End file.
